The turd that wrote that article is not from OSIS, in any way, shape or form. I'm sure the Open Source Intelligence Service is working on tracking what NoKo is up to, but no one would try to rely on whatever they can glean. NoKo doesn't exactly have a free press or open borders, so most of the intelligence that can be gathered on them has to come by SigInt and IMINT.

HotWingAgenda:The turd that wrote that article is not from OSIS, in any way, shape or form. I'm sure the Open Source Intelligence Service is working on tracking what NoKo is up to, but no one would try to rely on whatever they can glean. NoKo doesn't exactly have a free press or open borders, so most of the intelligence that can be gathered on them has to come by SigInt and IMINT.

MrBallou:That sounded convincing and quite alarming at first. Then I got to the paragraph that started with "President George W. Bush understood..." and realized WTF I was reading. The next paragraph started with "Unfortunately, President Obama..."

1)Random, unverifiable sources on the internet are really scared of North Korea for random, unverifiable reasons.2)President GWB valiantly kept the yellow hoard at bay3)Cowardly Obama is leaving us vulnurable to attack from North Korea and all of this is His Fault(tm).

Yeah Obama, how dare you, er, well, uhm, basically continue the same policies towards NK as every farking president ever.

I should have known it would be all hyperbole and blovating, but I'm interested in the Korea situation so thought there might(ha) be some new, legit info coming out... nope, just derpproganda.

Bontesla:MrBallou: That sounded convincing and quite alarming at first. Then I got to the paragraph that started with "President George W. Bush understood..." and realized WTF I was reading. The next paragraph started with "Unfortunately, President Obama..."

I have a pretty good idea what came after that.

That's all the summary I need.Thank you for saving me time.

Me too. I really believe that these new conservatives won't really be happy until we're at war with every "bad guy" on the planet simultaneously, with most people of the middle and lower class either fighting it out in the mud "over there, so we won't have to fight them over here" or in a low income job in a munitions factory building weapons for the war effort, while the upper class get to bask happily in their lavish splendor! (no taxes on their income or their company's, because every cent has to be used to win "The War", and most of the taxes to fight it comes out of sales taxes) Anyone who fights against this gets called a traitor and sent to the nearest Jesus Camp to be brainwashed into thinking that it's "G-d's will" to fight against every "evildoer" out there (Atheist North Koreans worshiping the cult of personality Kim Jong family, Muslims in every country except Turkey (though eventually Turkey), and Russia, why? Because they killed Apollo Creed!), because that would be what Jesus would do, but it won't get you executed this time, just sent out on the front lines like a good lil Christian would! Just make sure to thank a rich person first that you're even alive, because he's a "job creator" and you wouldn't be going into the army if it wasn't for this person creating a job for you to fulfill by fighting and killing our new enemies of this week.

HotWingAgenda:The turd that wrote that article is not from OSIS, in any way, shape or form. I'm sure the Open Source Intelligence Service is working on tracking what NoKo is up to, but no one would try to rely on whatever they can glean. NoKo doesn't exactly have a free press or open borders, so most of the intelligence that can be gathered on them has to come by SigInt and IMINT.

Several years ago, U.S. based Farsi speaking satellite TV stations, with a pro-western values message, had such an impact that Iran was forced to send out police units to take satellite dishes down from people's homes. Just as we did during the Cold War, let's do an intensive "Radio Marti-Radio Free Europe" broadcast operation, consisting of TV, SatTV and radio, against North Korea broadcast from locations in South Korea and Japan.

Satellite TV is definitely the way to reach the huddling masses of North Korea. Why hasn't this been attempted, Obama!?

Virtuoso80:Once we get scared enough, we'll finally start talking to them. Then all the other less-developed countries of the world will go, "Hey look, all we have to do is get nuclear weapons and the United States will start talking us seriously. We should get on that!"

It could work the other way too: "let's shelve our nuclear programmes to avoid having to deal with America".

Twilight Farkle:Much like earnings reports, where all the useful information is tucked away in the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements, the best way to read any "call to arms" is by first scrolling to the end of the document, and then slowly working your way back up.

"The most important part of any message is the name of the messenger."- J.R. "Bob" DobbsThree-Fisted Tales of "Bob"

Since North Korea isn't really worth talking about, I'll just agree with this. Especially when the headline is something like "Ex-[insert armed forces designation] faces [insert tragedy that happens to thousands of people every day].

While OSINT is a very valid intelligence discipline, you have to be able to discriminate valid information against propaganda. Signal to noise.

If it's on FOX News, it's noise. They've spent the last 12 years, most of their life as a "news" channel, in wartime-mode, telling Real Americans to be afraid. An outbreak of peace is the last thing they want, of course they want to stir the pot, keep people afraid (this time of NK since we won Iraq and Afghanistan is heading into the final round).

Anyway, if NK did conduct an EMP airburst over the pacific, yeah, Hawaii would be hosed. . .but then NK as a regime would have on the scale of hours to days left. They have no ability to last in a shooting war past the first day. They have no food, minimal fuel, minimal spare parts, obsolete hardware. The most they can do is a devastating initial artillery barrage directed at Seoul. . .and then they go down hard.

Darth_Lukecash:They are on a border with China., who will absolutely not let us do anything to them

You really think that? It's not 1953 anymore, and China needs us and our money more than it needs NK and their embarrassing parasitism.

China just wants NK to sit down, shut up and be nice, and not screw things up. The Kim Dynasty can't even do that. Did you catch the part where senior Communist Party of China officials were saying in public last week that the PRC should re-evaluate whether it even supports NK at all? In a nation with public media as tightly controlled as China, that was no accident.

"Open-source intelligence (OSINT) is intelligence collected from publicly available sources. In the intelligence community (IC), the term "open" refers to overt, publicly available sources (as opposed to covert or clandestine sources); it is not related to open-source software or public intelligence. "

I like how the "article" tried to make it sound like this was a real agency or something.

Weaver95:GAT_00: Absolute bullshiat. They can't possibly have the miniaturization down to the point where they can fit a nuclear warhead in a missile.

I think its possible. unlikely but very possible. the technology we're talking about is old, stable and well known. we've done well to keep the details secret on nuclear weapons but lets be honest - 70 years is a long time to keep something like that under a rock. granted, the tech is expensive and demanding but...not all that difficult to acquire. with all our attention focused on Iran, the norks could have done it. well, more likely flat out bought it but still.

Nuclear weapons are not easy. Miniaturization is actually rather difficult to achieve. To give you an idea of how hard nukes are, the Germans in WWII didn't get one largely because they couldn't figure out the electronics. The Germans. Electronics. Not the nuke part, but the electronics to create the symmetrical explosion for the trigger. That's not because the nuke part is easy. It's because the whole thing is hard.

Silverstaff:You really think that? It's not 1953 anymore, and China needs us and our money more than it needs NK and their embarrassing parasitism.

China just wants NK to sit down, shut up and be nice, and not screw things up. The Kim Dynasty can't even do that. Did you catch the part where senior Communist Party of China officials were saying in public last week that the PRC should re-evaluate whether it even supports NK at all? In a nation with public media as tightly controlled as China, that was no accident.

I've been wondering for a while when China is going to view NK as more of a liability then an asset. Maybe the US should just propose to them directly;"Look, these guys are a drain on your economy and a drag on your diplomatic credibility. What will it take for you guys to work with us to get them get permanently step in line and start to fix their shiat? How about a permanent reduction of US troops in the Korean peninsula?"

You know, I've got enough real shiat to worry about and keep me from sleeping... Namely, making enough money every week to pay the mortgage, keep the heat and lights on, have food to eat, and fill needed prescriptions.

I'd really like to care about some tin pot dictator in Asia, who may or may not have the ability to launch a nuclear missile and hit anything other than the Pacific Ocean, but my plate is full right now.

vygramul:Nuclear weapons are not easy. Miniaturization is actually rather difficult to achieve. To give you an idea of how hard nukes are, the Germans in WWII didn't get one largely because they couldn't figure out the electronics. The Germans. Electronics. Not the nuke part, but the electronics to create the symmetrical explosion for the trigger. That's not because the nuke part is easy. It's because the whole thing is hard.

You can build a simple gun-type fission device real easy, and no fancy electronics needed. Could do it with 1800's technology if you had the refined uranium. Also, can't really be upgraded to to a fusion weapon, certainly not with the Teller-Ulam design.

Problem is, can't miniaturize those devices, way too many basic physics problems (why that technology was pretty much abandoned), they are going to be too big for ICBMs, you'll have to drop it by bomber, and the NK Air Force is NOT the best in the world.

However, you CAN build a nuclear bomb without the electronics, but you need the electronics to take it beyond Trinity/Hiroshima level technology. . .but that's all you need to get the world's attention.

While the physical difficulties in smuggling a nuke across our border in a bale of marijuana seem trivial, tyrants are not usually willing to hand regime-ending capability to a subordinate and then trust that they won't spend the next couple of weeks wondering if it might be both easier and safer to be the next leader of North Korea.